Elemental Assassin 04 - Tangled Threads

losses, too many setbacks in a row. After what happened tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of her own men turned against her or maybe even just defected outright. The other underworld sharks like Phillip Kincaid are definitely smelling the blood in the water. Mab will have to work on shoring up her own organization first before makes another run at Bria. I think I’ve bought her some time, at least.”
    I was determined to kill Mab long before she set her sights on Bria again—no matter what.
    It was late, and I didn’t feel like driving home, so I spent the rest of the night in one of Jo-Jo’s guest bedrooms—the same room I’d woken up in just the day before. I was wiped out from everything that had happened tonight, but I wasn’t too tired to dream …
    It took longer than I thought it would to navigate through the ruined rubble of my house. There were fires everywhere.Busted water pipes that gushed like geysers, broken, splintered glass that cut into my bare feet, electrical wires that sent up showers of blue and red sparks in all directions.
    I still couldn’t believe I’d done all this with my Ice and Stone magic. That I’d somehow managed to collapse my own house and cause all this destruction with my screams of rage and pain and fear. I hurried on as fast as I could, picking my way over the piles of rubble, ignoring the sharp rocks that sliced my feet and the raw, fresh agony of the silverstone metal that had been melted into my hands. I’d stopped long enough to rip away part of my nightgown, soak it in cold water, and wrap the scraps around my palms, but they still hurt so much, sending a fresh, pulsing wave of pain through me with every beat of my heart. But no matter how much I hurt, no matter how much pain I was in, I was determined to find Bria and go—somewhere. Just get away. Before the Fire elemental found us and killed us both.
    Finally I stumbled out of the house and into the garden in the courtyard outside the kitchen. An hour ago, it had been a beautiful spot, with thick stands of flowers and plants and trees and bushes, all arranged around a gurgling stone fountain. But part of the house had collapsed onto the fountain, smashing it to pieces.
    And that wasn’t the worst thing I saw. A man’s arm stuck out of the rubble there, his blood a bright crimson against the white, pulverized marble.
    I stopped and looked at the arm. Whoever it was attached to had to be dead, even though blood still dripped off the ends of the fingers. And I realized that I’d caused this too. That I’d used my magic to crush someone to death, even though that hadn’t been my intention at the time. The thought made mystomach twist, and for a moment, I thought I might vomit. But I swallowed down my hot, bitter, sour bile and moved on. I’d feel guilty later. Right now, all that mattered was finding Bria.
    I slipped past the bloody arm and crushed fountain and headed for the far side of the courtyard, where a set of stairs climbed up to the second level of our house. The stone stairs were actually hollow underneath, with a secret chamber inside. A couple of months ago, I’d dragged a table, some chairs, and Bria’s favorite doll house into the chamber so we could be comfortable in there while we played. It was also my favorite place to come whenever Bria and I were playing hide-and-seek, because she never thought to look for me in there. But then again, she was only eight.
    After I’d seen the Fire elemental murder Mother and Annabella, I’d snatched Bria out of bed, put her in the secret chamber, and told her to stay there until I came back to get her. Nobody knew about the hollow stairs but our family, so no one would find Bria there. At least, I hadn’t thought they would until I’d heard my baby sister scream.
    I rounded another wall of rocks, and the staircase came into view. I looked up and froze, my heart plummeting to my feet like a cold, lead weight that had been dropped off a bridge.
    Because instead of the hollow staircase, all I saw now was a pile of rubble.
    “Bria?” I whispered.
    She didn’t answer me.
    “Bria!” My voice grew louder, sharper, as the panic set in.
    I hurried over and dropped to my feet beside the rubble, trying to dig through it, trying to claw my way through thestone to get to Bria, who surely had to be trapped underneath. But the rocks were far too heavy for me to move by myself. Only one thing to do. So I stood up, wiped my tears away, and lashed out